At the Corus opening
ceremony, fifteen days ago, the drawing of lots was facilitated by a group
of school children lined up on stage in numbered football jerseys. Each child
was selected by a grandmaster in the “A” group, some of whom thought the jersey
numbers would become pairing numbers in the draw. But in a sudden reversal,
the children removed their top tee shirts to reveal a second jersey underneath
with a completely different number. The result of this random process resounded
throughout the chess world today. Two champions fought to a draw, and
19-year-old TeimourRadjabov
has his first shot at the Corus “A” title, Sunday.

As reported on CLO on
Thursday, today’s match-up between VeselinTopalov and Vladimir Kramnik is
to be the only tournament meeting between these players in 2007, according to
both players’ present schedules.

Topalov, the first to arrive at the playing hall, took his
seat at the board surrounded by a media frenzy more commonly seen at a boxing
match. The number of photographers and public spectators today easily dwarfed
any of the prior eleven rounds. When Kramnik arrived,
with coffee and water in hand, he scarcely glanced at his Bulgarian opponent,
and neither player offered his hand in magnanimous tribute to the spirit of the
game. In the wake of their now infamous World Championship match in Elista, significant animosity remains between the pair's
respective camps.Indeed, the penultimate round in
Wijkaan Zee began amid yet
more allegations of cheating – this time in a major German daily newspaper, SüddeutscheZeitung. While Kramnik’s behavior in his Elista bathroom
was the subject of much scrutiny and accusation
last October, lead primarily by Topalov’s manager, SilvioDanailov, today Danailovhimself
was the subject of scrutiny by the German reporter who filed the story.The alleged
collusion between Mr. Danailov and Mr. Topalov, reported in Süddeutsche(available in
translation), is utterly unsubstantiated, and has been dismissed by both
veteran Corus journalists and, more importantly, by
the tournament director and arbiters. It contains several examples of
questionable innuendo, such as the claim that Topalov,
in a typical thinking pose during a game, apparently studying the board, “could
also be peeking through his fingers at Danailov, who
sometimes executed some strange movements,” like putting on his glasses and
tapping them.

The reporter attempts to give
credence to his theory by noting that the chief arbiter, Thomas Van Beekum,agreed to look into the claim, and
then did, but, inexcusably, the article does not continue to explain the
arbiter found no evidence to support
the accusations. Tournament director, Jeroen van den
Berg, interviewed for this story, confirmed that the allegations had been
considered, and rejected by the organizing committee.

The alleged cheating is said to
have been observed primarily during Topalov’s second
round match with six-time Dutch champion Loek Van Wely. Given that this game was played back on Sunday,
January 14th, it strikes this reporter as odd that the Süddeutsche story is only emerging now, the day of Topalov’s match with Kramnik.

More illuminating still, is the
statement by Loek Van Wely
himself, at a press conference following his win over Peter Svidler
this afternoon (video). When
asked about the report, he said, “I heard about some people were suggesting
this [sic], but I must say from the play of Topalov,
I cannot say that he was getting – let’s say helpful – signals, because my
opinion was that after the opening my position was almost lost, let’s say, and
somehow I still got back into the game, so I don’t know what kind of signals he
got, but maybe it was not 'chess signals' [laughs]…I would expect him to crush
me really badly if he was getting some signals – otherwise, why get signals?"

In October, Van Wely
signed a letter
of support for Kramnik, in his dispute with Topalov’s team at the World Championship match, so it would
seem he has no ulterior motive for now defendingTopalov.Photo Carla Amse,www.beam.to/corus

Topalov seemed genuinely amused when I asked him, after his
game today, about the allegations, of which he said he had not been aware. With
a sincere grin, he scoffed at the claim, saying of such rumors, simply, “it’s
not anything new.”
Danailov
was more outspoken, openly ridiculing the report, calling it “completely crazy
stuff,” and denying each of the specific observations reported. “I am amazed
that a serious newspaper can publish this,” he continued. “This I don’t
understand.”
The game, meanwhile, was a fighting draw, with the two champions trading queens early, but battling until nearly all the pieces had been exchanged at move 49.

The draw sets up an exciting finish as Radjabov, back in a tie for first place following his win over Motylev, chose a child, two weeks ago at the opening, whose jersey number gives him the white pieces against Topalov in the final round. These two played with the same colors in Radjabov's first and only other appearance a Corus, in 2003, at just 15 years old. Topalov won that game, but finished tied with his young future rival for ninth place. Four formative years for Radjabov, a hundred rating points, and several impressive upsets to his credit, will make tomorrow's game challenging for the beleaguered Bulgarian. The winner, should the game be decisive, will take home the Corus trophy. A draw could allow Levon Aronian, who will be playing Tiviakov with White, to catch the leaders on 8.5. Loek Van Wely won against Svidler today in an exciting tactical game, putting Svidler out of the race for first place.

Thanks to Edwin "forest" Woudt (ChessVibes.com) for assistance with this story. Macauley Peterson has been reporting live from Corus all this week on the Internet Chess Club's Chess.fm webcast. He can be reached at www.MacauleyPeterson.com.